Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Mark Honhorst The first half of this horror film, about strange experiments going on at a small campus, is very good. It was very effective thanks to a chilling score by Tangerine Dream and had some expert cinematography. It also had some big names in the cast. Michael Murphy (M*A*S*H), Louise Fletcher(One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) and classic film actor Charles Lane. But then, maybe 3/4ths of the way through, it gets terrible. And it gets there quick. I think the scene that convinced me this movie was no longer good was the one where Michael Murphy's character is talking to Louise Fletcher's at the kitchen table. He talks about this evil scientist like he's some cartoon super villain. In fact, the plot to this whole movie becomes a ridiculous mad scientist/ revenge story like you would see in a Poverty Row production from the 30s or 40s, with hilariously campy lab scenes straight out of a bottom of the barrel James Bond flick. It loses all credibility here. It loses it's atmospheric feel , the blond kid acts like he's high for most of the rest of the film, and it has a climax that is very predictable and feels like it was thought up right on the spot. It also has one of the most pointless and confusing (to me anyway) "last lines" in movie history, and ends abruptly. I would also like to note that, unless I missed something, we never find out what happens to any of the kids that the mad doctor experiments on. (SPOILER) They just kill and disappear from the film altogether. So to me, it just seems like the filmmakers stopped caring halfway through. They don't even try to cover up this one kid's New Zealand accent (it's set in Illinois, but was shot in New Zealand.) This movie is included in the same set with "Patrick". It is marginally better than that film but alas, only marginally.

wes-connors In a small New Zealand (as Illinois) town, future acclaimed filmmaker Bill Condon (as Bryan Morgan) is stabbed in silhouette after his parents leave him home alone. Elsewhere, aging teenager Dan Shor (as Pete Brady) is having trouble persuading "top cop" father Michael Murphy (as John) to sponsor an application to Galesburg College. To raise money, Mr. Shor accompanies pal Marc McClure (as Oliver Myerhoff) to the college's psychology department, where the lads are paid $200 to volunteer for some supposedly harmless experiment. Administered by creepily sexy Fiona Lewis (as Gwen Parkinson), you can bet the experiment has something to do with the film's rising body count... "Strange Behavior" features some of the usual genre missteps, but they're interjected with freshness. The characters are introduced uniquely. Shor shows his cheeks, and Mr. Murphy clips his toenails at the breakfast table. Louise Fletcher (as Barbara Moorehead) is okay, but in a much smaller role than heralded. Best of all is a sixties TV costume party kicked off by Lou Christie's hit single "Lightnin' Strikes" (1966) and ending in what can be described as "Uncle Fester" stabbing "Hoss Cartwright" to death. The Tangerine Dream soundtrack is sweet. Director Michael Laughlin, working with Mr. Condon, nicely mixes fright with fun, and they neatly construct an unexpected plot twist.****** Strange Behavior (10/16/81) Michael Laughlin ~ Dan Shor, Michael Murphy, Fiona Lewis, Louise Fletcher

Tender-Flesh Slasher fans will have fun with this offbeat thriller filmed in New Zealand. It boasts a score by Tangerine Dream which is only occasionally effective. Several of the actors either went on to have a considerable body of film work afterwards or they arrived on set with it already under their belts. This has something going for it that so many slashers of the time did not: an adequate director. Michael Laughlin isn't an amazing director, but he does know how to make the camera his and our friend. He doesn't just turn the camera on and have people walk around in front of the lens and die as so many other abominable pictures of the time tended to do. He used some unusual angles and had items and hands coming from off camera at odd times. There's plenty of creepy shots to go around.An Illinois(ahem) college has a psychology department where students are paid to go through several sessions of new experimentation with behaviors. And some strange behavior results, of course. A woman in a lab coat with "librarian hair" who went to the Rachel Ward/Kelly LeBrock school of acting sets up the experiments, following in the footsteps(ha) of a doctor who used to work for the college. Enter young Brady, who wouldn't mind making some extra scratch, and he signs up for the program. Along the way, we discover that the research performed is making the guinea pig students into killers who stalk and stab. Rather unusual slasher fare, but it's quite good.Some highlights include the hilarious old cruster Donovon, who "will find the fat ones" and some of the worst dancers you've ever seen but somehow it's still fun to watch them. Possibly because this has one of the most tubular like awesome homemade Batman(and Robin) costumes you're likely to find around. Oh yeah, they're dancing, too! You may be disappointed to learn that the female doctor neither gets naked or gets the blade for a butchering she richly deserves. The last scene seems to cut to the credits rather abruptly. I was trying to recall where I'd seen Brady before and afterwards saw that he'd been in Tron. He has a young Steve Guttenberg appeal.Recommended for the great camera work, bloody stabbings, and fairly good acting almost all the way around(something of a rarity for these sorts of films). One of the better Aussie offerings. Of note, an alternate title is "Dead Kids." Now, really, isn't that just the best horror title around? Almost as appropriate as Strange Behavior for a title.

e_esben I just got it on DVD because I read of all the positive hype, and loved movies like "Stepford "Wifes", "Desturbing Behavior" and "The Mansurain Candidate", and I hoped to find more movies in this genre. I stumbled over this movie, and though I had found what I was looking for because of the good reviews and interesting plot, but I was really WRONG!First of all, this movie has a really slow pace! You can deal with that is the acting and the atmosphere is good, but none of these were good. There was just about no atmosphere at all, you never get a shock or feel scared or even interested in the characters. The Good: Kid with scare mask makes a kill. (Really great mask!) Nice filming while riding the car. (camera on backseat) Plot with potentialThe Bad: only 5 kills in the entire movie, and only one is interesting. No interest in the characters hardly any focus on the experiments/plot Lots of random talk, no continuation in the movie No atmosphere, you feel nothing but boredom while watching this movie Boring surroundings Boring sound side of the movieConclusion: Not worth watching, even if your a horror fan. There is no reason for watching this movie, unless your a major fan of someone in it :-S Don't know who that should be!